Taps (1981)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Harold Becker

Writers:

Devery Freeman (novel)
Robert Mark Kamen (writer)

Release Date:

20 December 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

This school is our home, we think it's worth defending.

Plot:

Military cadets take extreme measures to insure the future of their academy when its existence is threatened by local condo developers.

Plot Keywords:

Military | Military Academy | Tragic Events | School Closing | Teen

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe.

Cast

George C. Scott	...	General Harlan Bache
Timothy Hutton	...	Cadet Major Brian Moreland
Ronny Cox	...	Colonel Kerby
Sean Penn	...	Cadet Captain Alex Dwyer
Tom Cruise	...	Cadet Captain David Shawn
Brendan Ward	...	Charlie Auden
Evan Handler	...	Edward West
John P. Navin Jr.	...	Derek Mellott
Billy Van Zandt	...	Bug
Giancarlo Esposito	...	Cadet Captain J.C. Pierce
Donald Kimmel	...	Billy Harris
Tim Wahrer	...	Cadet Major John Cooper
Tim Riley	...	Hulk
Jeff Rochlin	...	Shovel
Rusty Jacobs	...	Rusty

Also Known As:

The Siege at Bunker Hill: T.A.P.S (UK) (TV title)

Runtime:

126 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | UK:PG | USA:PG (certificate #26439) | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Ronny Cox was Harold Becker's original choice to play Colonel, but another unnamed actor was chosen and then fired two days into shooting his scenes. Producer Stanley R. Jaffe immediately called Cox, who flew down the very next day to begin shooting his scenes.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When taking inventory of the armory, the man counting the weapons states they are ".45 millimeter caliber 1911's". M1911 pistols are .45 caliber, meaning the bore is .45 inches in diameter, and not the metric measurement of 45 millimeters (a significantly larger measurement, to the point where they would be classed as artillery, rather than small arms). In countries which issued the M1911 (or copies), and to whom the Metric system was common, the cartridge was referred to as 11.43x23mm.

Quotes:

Brian Moreland: They want us to be good little boys now so we can fight some war for them in the future. Some war they'll decide on. We'd rather fight our own war right now.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Home Improvement: Taps (#6.24)" (1997)

Honor Without Purpose

Bunker Hill Military School-An institution males ("Taps" was made in 1981, adapted from an original novel written prior) ages 12 through 18 attend to teach them academics, character and leadership in anticipation of the graduates attending West Point.

Retired U.S. Army General Harlan Bache (George C. Scott) is the commandant of the school. His curiculum teaches his young charges teamwork, personal honor, courage and sacrifice. But something is lost in the translation.

General Bache answers to the schools board of trustees. They have decided to close the 141 year old institution for the purpose of realizing the full potential of the real estate. The news is devastating to Bache and his student body.

Operating on the lessons he has been taught by his mentor, General Bache, Cadet Major Brian Moreland (Timothy Hutton), Student Body Corps Commander, decides there is courage and honor in defending the institution with their very lives if necessary. Together with Calvary Corps Commander Alex Dwyer (Sean Penn) and elite company commander David Shawn (Tom Cruise), they set about doing just that.

"Taps", directed with style and class by Harold Becker, is a study of misdirected honor and courage. The students involved are not much younger than those who would be sent to distant battlefields by the active duty military. They are impressionable and taken by uniforms and strict discipline. They are intelligent but inexperienced. They are the future leaders being molded by General Bache.

General Bache is a good, fatherly man who has forgotten one thing-personal honor and courage mean nothing unless these values are supported by the one ideal worth lives-freedom. This ideal is the reason our military exists and this is the one, most important lesson General Bache fails to teach his young future leaders of the United States military. His students overreact to a situation that does not warrant sacrificing lives for.

Timothy Hutton is outstanding as the misguided Cadet Commander. Even his father, a top sergeant in the U.S. Army, can't talk him out of the path he has chosen for himself and his fellow students. There is also a subtle hint that his relationship with his father was never the best. Sean Penn turns in a great performance as the Corps Cavalry Commander and Moreland's right hand man who doesn't believe things could spin out of control so badly and comes to realize there is something wrong with the path Moreland has chosen. And Tom Cruise is powerful as the ultra-disciplined elite company commander who seems to relish a fight more than anything he's been taught about honor and courage.

The principles receive wonderful support from Ronny Cox as the commanding colonel of an Army National Guard unit who desperately attempts to talk reason to Moreland.

"Taps" is not perfect. I couldn't understand why General Bache would take a loaded ceremonial pistol to a school military ball. But then again, I have witnessed one or two acts in my own real life active duty service which took less common sense than that.

Overall, "Taps" is a well directed story with strong characters and depth. The film warns us of the dangers of honor without purpose.